7 Tips to Get Cheaper Homeowners Insurance Quotes and Save

According to the Insurance Information Institute, the average homeowner pays roughly $1,100 annually for regular home insurance. Although that’s money well spent on coverage to help you rebuild your home and replace belongings in the case of a disaster, it’s still a lot of money. Below, are a few ways you can save on homeowners insurance for the budget-conscious shopper.

1. Shop Around

Since rates are different at every company, it pays to shop around and get a few estimates from some different insurance providers. Plus, you’ll be happily surprised how much you can save by considering a few quotes, rather than just going with the most popular provider.

2. Boost Your Credit Scores

In most states, insurance providers use your credit scores to determine your risk factor, which may include raising your premiums if you have lower or unfavorable credit scores. However, you can take some steps to help boost your credit scores, such as paying your bills off on time, not reaching your credit card limit, and reporting any errors on your credit reports.

3. Bundle your Policies

An incredibly easy way to save on homeowners insurance is to bundle both your home and auto policies with one company. More often, providers will offer you discounts for bundling them, such as American Family (amfam.com), Allstate, and Progressive. Typically, bundling both home and auto can save you upwards of 20 percent on your premiums, but this usually depends on the provider.

4. Increase Your Deductible

In case you didn’t know already, your deductible is the amount insurance providers take away from your claim settlement. According to upsideinsurancegreenville.com, deductible amounts usually range from $500 to $1,000, however, increasing this number can decrease your rate. However, this often causes people to deter from filing minor damage claims because the overall repair bill will be less than your deductible amount. However, if insurers notice that you make fewer claims, they will be less likely to increase your rates when you renew your insurance.

5. Secure Your Home

Simply put, an easy way to lower your rate is to make your home more secure. Insurance providers will see this as a less threat to storms, burglary, and fires. You can increase your risk even more and be a candidate for cheaper rates by upgrading your pumping and wiring throughout your home. Adding deadbolts, windows locks, and impact-resistance roofing are all excellent examples of upgrades you can do to lower your premiums.

6. Redetermine Your Personal Property Coverage

It’s smart to regularly review your belongings and see how much it’s worth to determine how much personal property coverage you need. For example, if you recently sold expensive valuables, you can lower your high-limit insurance, which can help you save money.

7. Check to See Which Random Discounts You Can Get in On

Although home insurance providers don’t offer a whole lot of discounts, there are a lot of obscure ones that you may able to save money with. For example:

– Allstate and Amica Mutual offer discounts for customers that pay their premiums with their checking/saving account or debit/credit card.

– Farmers and Esurance offer rewards to their customers that live in non-smoking homes.

– Liberty Mutual and Travelers offer discounts for couples that recently bought their home.

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